View as Webpage On December 18, Jupiter (brighter) and Saturn were photographed in the southwest sky from Lower Manhattan at sunset. Scroll down to Eyes to the Sky for details on tonight’s rare celestial alignment. Lower Manhattan’s Local News Snow dude waiting for a game on the ballfields. Photo: courtesy BPCA Clamping Down on Vice […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News ‘We Have a History of Being Good Neighbors’ Non-Profit Outlines Plan for ‘Safe Haven’ Shelter on Washington Street The onetime Downtown Community House, at 105 Washington Street, is slated to return to its historic roots with conversion into a homeless shelter. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio […]

Eyes to the Sky Jupiter and Saturn closest meeting in centuries on the 21st: get ready! Artist’s concept of Jupiter and Saturn in December of 2020, as viewed from a space-based perspective. Their conjunction will be December 21. See the moon in this drawing? It’ll be along our line of sight to the planets around […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Trolley Lolly BPCA Funds Connection Shuttle for Two More Years The Downtown Connection shuttle, which ferries passengers free of charge between more than 30 local stops that link residential areas with business and shopping districts, is operated by the Downtown Alliance, in partnership with the Battery Park City […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Everything Old Is New Again Lower Manhattan’s First House of Worship Gets a Facelift Above: A rendering of the new stained-glass window planned for Trinity Church. Below: The existing window, which is a modern replacement of a now-vanished historic original, has fallen into serious disrepair. The ongoing evolution […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Charity Begins at Home Downtown Alliance Funds Lower Manhattan Non-Profits Alliance president Jessica Lappin: “No economic recovery will be truly successful without finding a way to support the cultural growth we’ve witnessed take hold in our neighborhood over the past several years.” The Downtown Alliance is donating $10,000 […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News A Different Kind of Test Scores COVID Report Card for Lower Manhattan Schools Above: The Peck Slip School, where three students have tested positive for the pandemic coronavirus Below: P.S./I.S. 276, where an three teachers are reported to be infected A review of data from the New York […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News The Not-So-Okay Corral DOT Overrules Community Concerns about Delivery Bike Facility in Tribeca The new cargo-bike corral on Warren Street, intended for use by Whole Foods in making local deliveries. The City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has ignored calls from Community Board 1 (CB1) to address concerns of […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Life and Death in the Estuary Outside Our Windows Dead menhaden in North Cove. Over the past few days, downtowners have witnessed extremes of life and death in the Hudson River—a humpback whale exploring the waterway, flipping its tail as if to wave at the Statue of Liberty; […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News ‘Liberal in the Streets, NIMBY in the Sheets’ Margaret Chin Pushes Back Against Racially Charged Pasquinade Above: The “Chinzilla” poster that critics of City Council member Margaret Chin created to express their criticism of her record. Below: Margaret Chin: “To who seek to poison the well with misinformation […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News ‘Affordable Housing is Unaffordable’ Stringer On New Yorkers Being Priced Out of Their Communities City Comptroller and mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer New York City Comptroller, mayoral contender, and Lower Manhattan resident Scott Stringer took part in a candidates’ forum last Saturday, as part of the annual West Side […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Jenny from the Block Veteran Local Activist Seeks City Council Seat Jenny Low, whose record of community leadership in Lower Manhattan is decades long, is running for City Council. Jenny Low, a longtime Lower Manhattan activist and community leader, has entered the race for the City Council seat […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Shelter Skelter Another Day, Another Court Ruling about 52 William Street On Thursday afternoon, Justice Anil Singh of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division granted a temporary stay, which has the effect of halting once again the planned transfer of more than 200 men from the […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Back to Court Opponents of Plan for Homeless Shelter in FiDi Hotel Appeal Recent Dismissal Two groups of litigants in the ongoing legal battle surrounding the plan to convert a Financial District hotel into a homeless shelter filed an appeal on Wednesday, seeking to overturn a judge’s decision […]

EYES TO THE SKY November 30 – December 13, 2020 Full Snow Moon rises this afternoon, winter stars follow, planets delight November 30, 2020 at 7:25pm. Orion rises earlier every night going forward, e.g. 6pm on the 13th. Red arc represents the Milky Way. Image: Judy Isacoff/StarryNight The Full Snow Moon rises above the east-northeast […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Alluvion Alarm Study Says Much of Downtown Will Have That Sinking Feeling by 2050 A map from Climate Central, illustrating projected risk to Lower Manhattan from rising sea levels and extreme-weather events by 2050, shows almost one-third of Downtown under water. In 29 years, approximately one-third of Lower […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Super-Talls Cut Down to Size Pair of FiDi Skyscraper Projects Suffer Setbacks 161 Maiden Lane, where glass panels have been removed from the partially completed structure, which a former contractor alleges is tilting ominously. Two separate residential towers planned for the Financial District are suffering from the local […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News ‘Such Parties Have No Grievance That Is Ripe for Review’ Judge Rules City Can Proceed with Plan for Homeless Shelter in FiDi On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the City shut down for the Thanksgiving holiday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Debra James nullified a temporary […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Opposites Distract Even This Year, Thankful for What Is Easy, While the How Comes Harder Walking home at twilight in the near-deserted concrete canyons, you recall (for no reason that you can discern) the Old Man teaching you the word “dichotomy” a lifetime ago, and telling you that […]

View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Last Call? Downtown Restaurants Brace for More Closure Orders Blue Smoke, on Vesey Street, has announced that it will suspend indoor and outdoor dining, in anticipation of new restrictions As New York wades deeper into its second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, some local restaurants are trying to […]